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Sometimes its good to make money online the good old fashioned way. Books have been out for like 1500 years. Before that they had scrolls and cave drawings and etc. It really is a good way to market a product, service, or idea. The internet started off with unprofessional looking fan pages and porn sites. When i started blogging for money here on BloggerNoob, ebooks were an already old way to monetize a blog or website.

The important thing is to go out and market. Ebooks are all grown up now. Amazon’s Kindle started it. Of course Sony and the lot had ebooks before the Kindle, but it really was Amazon that popularized it. And you know what happened after that. Apple came in and took the game over. I like to think of Amazon’s Kindle as Magic Johnson, or Larry Bird. And Apple’s iPhone and iPad as Michael Jordan.

Anyway, I’m blabbering off. Please excuse me…i haven’t blogged for a very long time. I’m out of practice.

I’ve been meaning to blog about iBooks Author for a while now. Ever since it came out actually. I’ve been tinkering with it and i think it really has a lot of potential for people who are looking to make money online. Even the lowly noobies and beginners. It’s that easy to use. If you know your way around Microsoft Word, you can easily write and self publish ebooks/ibooks onto Apple’s mighty AppStore.

I won’t do a howto on how to work iBooks Author. Instead i will spit out some ideas about monetization.

First lets look at what kind of books we want to publish. Do we want to make the ebook free or paid. Paid is the obvious choice, but let me tell you, it’s not so easy to get someone to fork over anything over FREE on the AppStore. Just ask Android Developers.

So in the beginning i would recommend going the free route. You’re not going to make money right away with a free book. But you are planting seeds. If you get a lot of downloads, money will follow. That’s what i always tell website owners. Don’t worry too much about money coming in. Just drive traffic to your website.

Let me show you an example. I have a friend who write children’s books. He decided to hire developers to transfer one of his books to the iPad when it first came out. He set the book up as paid. Guess what, not a lot of people downloaded that book. So later he decided to publish his best book for free on the appstore. It made its way up the top ten in his book category. He didn’t make money off of that free book. But it drove up traffic to his website and his second book (paid version) got quite a few downloads. Positive reviews started being posted and he’s doing well now.

See what happened? It’s like boy band members. They don’t make any money on the first album. You gotta get popular and quickly release a second album to make any money. Just ask Justin Timberlake.

Again, i can’t stress enough about the importance of being niche specific. Don’t write some general ass book. Be as focused and niche specific as possible. If you love Cars, don’t write a book about cars. Write about Tokyo Drifting. If you love rap music, don’t go top 40 route. Write about 80’s rap or better yet, write about the Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

People write books for a reason. It’s not just to improve humanity. They do it to market themselves. Look at Barack Obama. I didn’t even know who he was before he wrote “The Audacity of Hope.” And now look at him. He’s the damn President. If your book gets a lot of free downloads, you’ll become famous. Not really but you will be looked upon as someone with authority within your niche. That can aid you in your money making ventures.

Before you get started. Do some market research. Check out the top 25 list on the app store. See the type of books that are getting a lot of downloads. Check out the pricing. The lower the better. Read about other indie publishers. Network with other publishers. Remember to write what you know and what you are passionate about. Don’t just write to make a quick buck. Allrightythen. Go on and get started. Even if you don’t make any money with it, you’ll feel proud that you’ve published something on the AppStore. How cool is that!

As you write your blog, do you ponder on who’ll be reading it? Most bloggers write posts based on readership rates, responses and perceived audience needs. However, do you know the types of people that read blogs? There are about 10 types of people that read blogs. If you want your blog to succeed, it’s a good idea to know these types and engineer your blog to suit their tastes.

1. The Absorber
The absorber absorbs every little word of your blog post, just like a sponge absorbs water. These readers pay you the biggest compliment; they really try to understand your point of view and your thought process. Absorbers tend to be detail-oriented and a tad nitpicky. They will leave comments about spelling mistakes, missed punctuations and similar tiny details to help you write better posts.
Writing posts for the absorber:
These people like to read quality content. Make sure your article is spell-checked, read it twice to ensure each sentence is structured properly and don’t forget to fine-tune your grammar and punctuation.

2. The Casual Reader
This kind of reader just skims the content of your post, without paying particular note to details. They’re good at summations and can get the gist by just skimming through. This kind also leaves comments frequently. Most blog readers fall into this category.
Writing posts for the casual reader:
Break your text into paragraphs and provide articulate headings so that people can grasp the gist just by reading the headers. Ensure that your content can be scanned quickly.

3. The First And Last Sentence Reader
This reader type reads only the first and last sentences of your post. If your article doesn’t grab their interest, or if you don’t have images in it, this type will just move on. If your blog lacks images, you’ll probably lose the first and last sentence readers among your audience.
Writing posts for the first and last sentence reader:
Plug in some eye-catching graphics and size them appropriately. Keep your paragraphs separate, with interesting first sentences. Format your content and make it presentable.

4. The Curious Reader
Some people read personal blogs only because they’re curious about you. These readers may not be interested in the content, but rather in what you say. Their main interest is in knowing more about you. You’ll find comments from these curious types about your success and how you do things.
Writing posts for the curious reader:
These people love to be entertained with personal remarks, or any secrets that you can reveal about yourself, about your affiliations, celebrities and so on.

5. The Supportive Reader
The supportive reader offers encouragement, promote your blog and your products and post encouraging comments. They readily offer backlinks and will talk about your blog on other blogs. If this kind of reader believes in your product, your opinions, or your cause, you’ve garnered an ally.
Writing posts for the supportive reader:
Take careful note of the comments your supportive readers leave and write posts to gain their full support.

6. The Silent Reader
Then there’s the silent reader who certainly visits your blogs, reads them but never leaves a comment. They will not bother to comment even if you email them specifically for feedback. It’s not clear what these readers want. They may also be shy people who like to be entertained but don’t want to get involved.
Writing posts for the silent reader:
If you find that many of your blog’s readers fall into this category, write posts that entice them to comment. Ask readers to comment on issues, offer their opinions and even participate in a poll.

7. The Negative Reader
This type of reader is quick to judge and point out mistakes, in a not very constructive manner. They can frame you using copyright infringement allegations, or leave comments saying your blog is not very original and so on. The best way to handle them is to correct mistakes, post apologies and be careful in the future.
Writing posts for the negative reader:
Always ensure your content is 100% original. It’s well worth it to invest in Copyscape or a similar tool to do this. Make sure your article is well written, articulate, grammatically correct and to the point.

8. The Loyal Reader
Needless to say, the reader who is a potential customer is the one that you want to attract the most. These readers stay loyal to you and become your customers in the future. If you start other blogs or other ventures, these readers will follow you there as well.
Writing posts for the loyal reader and potential customer:
Be ethical and scrupulously honest in all your business dealings via your blog. Post information that’s clear, easy to read and can be validated by anyone. Cite your sources and references wherever possible, and provide actual facts.

9. The Opportunistic Reader
Some readers come to your blog with a hidden agenda. However, when you are a success in this business, someone or the other will want to try and borrow your strategy. Since you won’t be giving it away, they’ll try to spy, copy content, talk to your readers to learn how you do things.
Writing posts for the opportunistic reader:
Don’t reveal too much in your posts. Offer your best strategies via guidebooks at a price point.

10. The Popular Post Reader
This type of reader reads only those posts that are already popular. That way, they feel their time is well invested. These readers will scan all the comments first, and read the article only if several people have appreciated it. They won’t bother reading a new post until it’s been whetted.
Writing posts for the popular post reader:
If a post of yours becomes popular, watch what people say and try to post more articles in a similar vein.
Question For You
Now that you know there are so many different types of blog readers, you need to ask yourself this. What kind of blog reader are you?

David Smith works for conversion rate optimization Company where he helps business in improving the overall performance of their online marketing campaigns.